An airbag can save your life, but if improperly manufactured, it could mean your death. At least five people have died after airbags made by Japanese company Takata exploded during deployment in crashes, bombarding passengers with sharp metal fragments. Continue reading →

You won’t believe what our science guy Steve Spangler found inside a soda can. In fact, it’s inside every soda can and it protects the aluminum from reacting with the soda. Steve takes us inside his lab for a chemistry lesson you won’t forget Continue reading →

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Introduction

In this demo, the teacher creates a beautiful rainbow of colours in a demonstration tube using universal indicator and a dilute
acid and base.

Discussion

Universal indicator can be used to illustrate an entire range of pH conditions because it is made up of a mixture of different
indicators that change colour at different pH values. As an acid is diluted with water, its pH increases—but never above pH 7.
Likewise, as a base is diluted, its pH decreases—but, again, never below pH 7. Continue reading →

There’s a lot of pretty chemistry in the reaction of aluminum wire with copper(II) chloride! Burnished copper crystals grow on the wire surface, and the blue color of copper(II) ions slowly fades. What relationships govern the relative amounts of aluminum and copper in this reaction? Can you predict the amount of copper that will be produced and the amount of aluminum that will be used up?